A Gentleman Never Keeps Score (Seducing the Sedgwicks, #2) by Cat Sebastian

Cat Sebastian is now six for six. Not a stinker among her published books so far (though to be fair, I haven’t *loved* all of them (Unmasked by the Marquess was fun, but didn’t hit me in my swooners). A Gentleman Never Keeps Score, though saddled with a truly execrable cover*, features more of what I love about her books: two fully realized leads who have good chemistry, and who are kept apart not by asinine plot machinations and outside forces, but by character flaws and life circumstances and their own stubbornness. And any time there is a miscommunication between […]

For Real by Alexis Hall

I picked this up after Julia in Austin reviewed and raved about another novel by Alexis Hall and mentioned For Real as a favorite. This is actually the first M/M romance I’ve read, and it also has a BDSM focus. I think I assumed the structure would be like most of the romance novels I am familiar with but with the sex having a BDSM spin. As someone has since pointed out to me, when a novel markets itself as being BDSM or focused on a specific preference like that, it tends to involve more sex than the average romance. […]

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren

I thought this was lovely, and I’m so glad I picked it up on a whim. I really only have two complaints. I had such a good time reading it, I put it on my wishlist immediately, and can see myself upping this to five stars in the future when maybe those complaints won’t matter as much to me. This is a young adult coming of age romance between two boys. One (Tanner) is a bisexual eighteen-year old whose family moved to Provo, Utah when he was only fourteen, and even though he was out where he lived in California, […]

An Unnatural Vice (Sins of the Cities, #2) by K.J. Charles

This was FUN. I liked the first one, but it was missing something for me. This one, perhaps because its central characters weren’t so quiet and unassuming, intrigued me right away and didn’t let up. Nathaniel Roy is a crusading journalist who is determined to expose the secrets of two big name spiritualists currently practicing in London. He sees what they do as an abomination, taking advantage of naïve and grieving people’s trust and pain, and making money off of it. Nathaniel is also sensitive to this because even five years out, he’s still grieving the unexpected death of his […]

An Unseen Attraction by K.J. Charles

I liked this quite a bit, but I was able to put it down for several months, which doesn’t really speak super well of it’s ability to compel a reader. There was just something about the specific ways the pacing and the characters and the plot combined that I liked, but didn’t love. So this is a romance novel, but it’s also a hybrid Victorian/mystery/thriller-ish sort of book, and all of the plots are not resolved (though the romance aspect is), and I’m assuming they will carry out through the rest of the trilogy. Clem Talleyfer runs a lodging house […]

Cover Up by L.A. Witt

I would never consider being able to read a book in a day a mark against that book. One of my favourite things about the trashy romance genre is being able to charge through a series of books in a few days. If I finish the series that quickly and still find myself attached to the characters I peg that up to some good writing. Skin Deep Inc is a lovely series of books but I find book two and three are much closer together. We find out about Nate and his troubled marriage in book 2, and also learn […]

Down By Contact (The Barons, #2) by Santino Hassell

Well, I’m not quite to the level of reading all this author’s stuff (it is very aggressively male, which I can tolerate in a sports romance, but I’m not sure about elsewhere). But I am very much in for the rest of this series. I hope it’s longer than three books. This time around, we follow Simeon Boudreaux, who we met last book as one of Gavin Brawley’s best (only) friends and teammates on the Barons, a fake New York professional football team. Simeon is a genuine Famous Athlete. Even non-sports people know his name. And of course Simeon is recently […]

Illegal Contact (The Barons, #1) by Santino Hassell

I mean, this was definitely Written By A Man. This is a sports romance between a famously aggressive NFL player (Gavin, bisexual and in the closet) who is under house arrest for a brawl that was caught on camera, and the personal assistant (Noah, openly gay former social worker) he hires to help him manage his life while he can’t leave his house. There is much personality clashing, discussion of power dynamics, class issues, football, and sex. It is smart, also, and doesn’t give two fucks about showing its hand and doing its thing. Hassell gets a lot of mileage […]

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